by Kathryn Hill on October 3, 2007
by Kathryn Hill on May 23, 2007
by Kathryn Hill on May 22, 2007
by Kathryn Hill on April 25, 2007
Due to my deafness, I speak with a speech impediment. Most people can understand my speech fine when they interact with me in person, but I think that if they could not see my face and listened to a recording of my voice, they might not understand me so well.
I wanted to be able to offer podcasts to accompany my blog posts to help make everything more accessible, but I don’t feel confident enough in my speaking pronunciation to do a podcast on my own. So I started googling for text-to-voice podcasting services, and came across Odiogo, which does this service – for free. From their website:
Check out our automated podcast “to go”: your site’s RSS feeds, text articles and blog posts can be converted automatically to iPod-ready audio files ready to download and play anywhere, anytime, on any device.
I registered with the service, and it immediately created podcasts of my text posts. I don’t have to notify the service when I update my blog; it’s subscribed to my RSS feed and finds new posts as they come in. I don’t have to install any software; I simply just keep on blogging, and Odiogo will provide podcasts of my blogs.
I had a hearing person listen to the podcasts for me, and he said that the voice transcription was very accurate and extremely understandable.
This is a good option for people with speech impediments to help their blog or news service reach an even wider audience. I’ve added the Odiogo icon to the top of all my posts; if you prefer to receive my posts as podcasts, simply click on the button and subscribe to my Odiogo feed – there’s no charge.
by Kathryn Hill on April 19, 2007
Project ReadOn is a standalone caption player that provides captions for online media such as videos and podcasts. They are funded by sponsors, ads, and grants. The captioners watch online videos and transcribe the spoken text into captions which are viewed online using an interesting web browser technology – there are no fees, and there is no software to download or install; users simply visit the Project ReadOn website and browse through the available selection of captioned videos, and a narrow, rectangular-sized window pops up automatically and positions itself over the video being viewed. As the user watches the video, they read the captions and watch the video simultaneously. I’ve captured a screen shot here:
Only one month old (the company just came to life in March 2007,) they’ve already captioned their 100th video and encourage people to contact them with suggestions and requests; they have a handy “submit request” field in the top right corner of each page on their website.
by Kathryn Hill on April 19, 2007
by Kathryn Hill on April 9, 2007
by Kathryn Hill on January 28, 2007
I recently asked Apple why the movies offered at the iTunes Store do not have closed captioning, and was told that QuickTime does not deal with CEA-608 Closed Caption data.
However, the sneak peek on Leopard accessibility says:
QuickTime currently supports closed captioning by including a text track alongside audio and video content. But improved QuickTime support will automatically display the CEA-608 closed captioning text standard in analog broadcasts in the U.S.
Hopefully when Leopard is released with its improved captioning features, Apple will start offering closed captioning on movies and television shows being sold at the iTunes Store.
by Kathryn Hill on January 23, 2007
I just discovered a new technology called Earize, which calls itself an internet text streaming service. From their website:
Earize is an Internet streaming text service. This service can be used exclusively for caption radio, and to assist deaf and hard of hearing people in meetings, telephone conferences, and seminars, to name a few. Audiences can be increased by 8.6% just by reaching the folks with hearing loss. The service is also a vehicle for additional advertising to this sometimes overlooked segment.
Users can read the text from a computer, PDA, or cell phone, and can customize the text by font size and color. Also, if something is missed, users can scroll back and read the transcript. Broadcasters pay a small fee to have their show transcripted; the service is free for the receiver.
by Kathryn Hill on January 12, 2007
One of the most popular internet technologies today is podcasting, which is the act of creating and sending audio files over the Internet. Podcasts are used for media such as radio shows and audio blogging. Users can listen to podcasts over the Internet, or download them to a MP3 player like an iPod.
Unfortunately, not all podcasts come with a text transcript, which means that the deafies get left out. I’d love to know what’s being said on the now-defunct Penn Jillette Show, as I’ve been told that it’s quite funny. I’m also interested in The Splendid Table and This American Life. Sadly, none of these shows provide text transcripts that I can find.
NPR and American Public Media offer text transcripts for a fee. Apple offers hundreds of thousands of podcasts at their iTunes Store for free, and yet I cannot find any text transcripts.
So, after much Googling, I found a few services that offer text transcribing for audio podcasts:
I can’t seem to find a service or software program that transcribes audio podcasts to text without charging fees. Right now, text transcripts fall within the realm of the podcaster deciding whether they want to provide a transcript or not. Obviously, there is a need for no-fee transcripts.
So far, I have only found two podcasts offering no-fee transcripts – thank you! Hopefully more podcasters will follow their example.
Deaf people are interested in reading the content of podcasts. All media – whether its content is emergency information, news, or entertainment – should be accessible to everyone. Everyone has a right to knowledge & information, and access to it. Podcasts communicate information that should be made available to all audiences.
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